


Calling for Help

by Gear



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-28
Updated: 2011-12-28
Packaged: 2017-10-28 07:53:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/305596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gear/pseuds/Gear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Red Arrow is notoriously bad at calling for help, but Kaldur comes to his rescue five times, and Roy returns the favor once.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In Which Kaldur Curses Roy Out

"I believe that the appropriate human phrase here is  _'are you fucking stupid'?_  Or delusional? Or possibly merely concussed. I would say that the latter is the most likely, except you could only have gotten the concussion during your  _one on one fight with the Joker_  and that fails to explain why, in fact, you were  _in a_ one on one fight with  _the Joker._  But I'm  _sure_  there is a rational explanation that I've merely failed to see. Perhaps you will be able to explain it to me," growls Kaldur with uncharacteristic anger as he wraps the deep gash on Roy's chest, a bit more tightly than is strictly necessary in the archer's opinion.

Roy has the good grace to look slightly ashamed, and just a little bit surprised (Kaldur is supposed to be the calm one, the unshakable one, certainly not the sarcastic, worried one. That's always been  _his_  job. And maybe he did take a blow to the head because he's kind of thrilled that the other hero has spent enough time with him to pick up some of his traits) but not enough to stop him from responding, "What would you have wanted me to do? Let him ravage the city? Wait like a good little boy until the League arrived? Let innocents  _die_?"

Kaldur takes a deep breath, and it is obvious that he has to work hard to control himself (and that's a topic that he really doesn't want to explore – how Roy always makes him feel more _everything_ , how the other man has always been able to push his buttons like no other). A few moments later, when Aqualad deemed himself sufficiently calm, he replied, "Have you ever heard of the concept of, perhaps, calling for help?" seeing the mutinous look on his friends face, Kaldur shakes his head and continues before Roy could voice his objections, "It doesn't have to be Green Arrow or the Justice League. Any of Young Justice would be willing to help you.  _I_  would be willing to help you. Just . . . call next time. Please. I don't want to hear about it on the news again."

A pause in Kaldur's ministrations while Roy glares at him and Kaldur looks back, unflinching.

"Fine. I'll call next time," Roy gives in, because really, it would take a very strong man to resist the full force of a worried, angry, and completely endearing Atlantean, and he isn't that strong. Not by a long shot.

Kaldur finishes attending to Roy's various wounds in silence, apparently satisfied by this promise. But now that there was no longer that distraction, the quiet devolves from companionable into awkward, with both of them in Roy's miniscule bathroom, the archer perched on the sink, and Kaldur standing in front of him. Casting around wildly for something anything to end the discomfort (and since when were  _they_  awkward? It used to be that they never ran out of things to talk about. Just another thing that's changed) Roy hits upon, "So, pizza?"

Kaldur looked relieved. He noticed the awkwardness too, then. "Sure. But no –"

"Anchovies, yeah I got it," Roy cuts in, rolling his eyes as he heads into the kitchen for the phone.

 


	2. In Which Kaldur is an Honorary Bat

This is . . . not the  _worst_  situation that he has ever been in, but, on the other hand, it certainly isn't the best either. He is fighting something that he had  _thought_  was a simple mugger, but muggers, as a general rule, don't catch arrows midflight, nor are they strong enough to rip down metal scaffolding. Also, they rarely shoot red-hot plasma out of their eyes. Just in general. To make this predicament even worse, he is on the defensive, retreating rapidly, and he's pretty sure from his memorization of various maps of Star City, that this is a dead end ally. Oh, yeah, and he's running out of arrows. Briefly, he remembers his promise to Kaldur that he would call if something that he couldn't handle arose, but right now? He's pretty sure that if he stopped his steady rain of arrows to call him, the only thing Kaldur could be helping with would be scraping his charred and exploded corpse off the wall.

Even as his thoughts rush by, he keeps shooting, hoping that he'll find some weakness - he's tried fire arrows, freezing arrows, exploding arrows, binding arrows and really, really sharp (diamond tipped, actually) arrows, but none of them do anything more than slow the thing down. It's definitely time to get into a better position - pinned against a wall will play to exactly  _none_  of his strengths. He shoots another arrow, but this time, instead of going back to his quiver to reload, he pulls out a grapple gun, and aims at the building across the street. He isn't retreating . . . merely performing a tactical maneuver. Right.

The creature looks rather bewildered by his disappearance – apparently it's more brawn than brain. He files that fact away as a weakness. The not-mugger lumbers further into the alley, until it meets the brick wall. It starts prodding at it, and Roy has an idea. His hand flies back to the quiver that rests comfortably at his back and he runs his fingers over the butts of the arrows he finds there. He uses a system of notches to distinguish the various trick arrows from each other, and his nimble fingers rapidly find one with three deep cuts in it. An explosive arrow. He's already tried shooting them at the monster directly with little effect, but now, now he has a plan. He waits, stock still, until the not-mugger thing has started banging on the wall, as if that will make Red Arrow come out. Then he takes aim, shoots, and watches with satisfaction as the wall collapses around the thing, burying it under rubble. The city will be pissed at him for his 'damaging privately owned property', (although probably not nearly as pissed as the owner of said wall, and  _certainly_ not as pissed as  _he_  would be if the monster had caught him) but right now, he doesn't much care.

He doesn't think that it's permanently stopped, but it is at least slowed down, so Roy takes a brief break to collect himself and gather stock. The tally isn't great. He has five arrows, two throwing knives, and a switch blade that he took off a  _real_ mugger earlier that night. He also has his comm. Desperate times call for desperate measures so he pulls it out and calls Kaldur.

"This is Aqualad, how can I help you?" asks the Atlantean, always scrupulously – and, occasionally aggravatingly - polite.

"Hey, it's Red Arrow. I kind of need a little –"

"I'm already on my way. I'll be there in two minutes," replies Kaldur, and he ends the connection before Roy can respond.

And sure enough, the other hero is there within minutes, and between them they quickly subdue the not-mugger, which turns out to be – unsurprisingly – a robot. Aqualad stays with Red Arrow through the rest of his patrol, and they return to his apartment, exhausted but happy a few hours before dawn reaches the city. They rapidly devour a meal, before crashing.

* * *

Roy wakes up slowly, luxuriously, knowing that he doesn't  _actually_ have to be awake until he goes out on patrol, because this is his day off. He stretches and debates the merits of rolling over and trying to get another couple of hours of sleep when he remembers the events of the previous night. He gets up silently (something that he has had quite a bit of experience with), so as not to wake up his friend – he had invited Kaldur to stay the night on the couch rather than making the trek across the city to the nearest Zeta-Beam.

In his ( _absolutely_   _tiny_ ) kitchen, he casts around wildly for (edible) food, and his eyes light upon the flour jar. A quick survey of the fridge and the pantry shows that he does, in fact, have all the ingredients for pancakes, and he quickly sets about making them. It isn't until he's flipping the last pancake that he notices that Kaldur had entered the kitchen at some point, dressed in a borrowed shirt and boxers (and  _fuck_ if that doesn't do something to his insides) both of which fit badly (the shirt is too small and the boxers too large, and Roy has to force himself not to stare). He isn't sure how long he's been there but considering that his – usually squalid – kitchen table is clean and set for two, he's pretty sure that it's been a while. He puts the final pancake on the stack, placing it on the table.

The pancakes are demolished with the rapidity that can only be attributed to the infamous teenaged boys' ravenous appetite. Kaldur refuses to allow him to help clean up, saying that Roy cooked, so he should clean, going so far as to – exceedingly politely – threaten him with bodily harm should he try to help.

Roy revels in the feeling of being well fed, safe, and without any immediate obligations until he realizes, "Wait. How did you find me last night? And you got there way too fast – even Wally would have had to change into his costume, take the Zeta-Beam, and run halfway across the city." He hadn't realized this until now – the night before he had been too busy, and this morning he had been more focused on using his half-remembered cooking skills than recalling exactly what had happened on patrol.

"I planted a tracker in your suit. When your pulse reaches a certain rate it alerts me, as well as informing me of your coordinates, and triggering a broadcast only radio. If it sounds like you are in trouble, I come to help," he says this like it's the most obvious thing in the world, and Roy's not really sure whether he should be flattered that he would be so worried, amused, because that's such a  _Kaldur_ way of explaining it, angry, since Kaldur obviously doesn't think that he will honor his promise, or creeped out, because, yeah, that's kind of on the creepy side of affectionate. He settles on a combination of the four.

"Uh . . . thanks?"

"It is not a problem my friend. Robin helped," Kaldur says as he scrapes at a particularly stubborn piece of grime.

Ah.  _That_  explained a lot.


	3. In Which Dinah is a BAMF Mother Figure

"That was a good session – you guys have all shown improvement. Hit the showers. Kaldur, please stay for a moment. I need to talk to you."

Kaldur's mind races, trying to figure out what he might have done to make Black Canary keep him after training. Running the last few missions and training sessions back through his mind, he doesn't remember anything that but he's still slightly apprehensive as he watches the rest of his teammates file out of the room, leaving him alone with the hero.

She must have noticed his fear, because she says, "It isn't anything about your performance. It's about Sp- Red Arrow."

Now he's just surprised, although he knows that he really shouldn't be. Despite the fact that the rift between Green Arrow and Red arrow had, if anything, grown in the last three years, Roy had become inordinately close to Dinah, a bond that puzzled but pleased Kaldur. Roy needed more people who loved him in his life, and Black Canary fit the bill perfectly. But as he dragged his mind into the present, Kaldur is plagued with worries.  _What could she have to talk to him about? Is Roy injured? In danger?_  His thoughts run in circles until he cuts them off abruptly, knowing that his worries will get him nowhere, and asks, in a steady voice, "What about him?"

Dinah worries her lower lip like she's not sure about something and Kaldur becomes even more confused because she's  _never_ unsure, and this whole conversation took a serious turn for the weird at some point. But now she's talking, and he pushes aside the confusion in favor of – maybe – learning part of an explanation.

"You know that Roy's father – well, his adopted father, his real father died when he was almost too young to remember it – Brave Bow died when Roy was fourteen. He –"

"Oh. Is today the anniversary of his death?" Kaldur knows that he's being rude, interrupting Dinah, but suddenly everything slots into place, and a wave of understanding washes over him.

The wave breaks as Black Canary answers, "No. You were close though. Roy occasionally suffers fits of depression regarding it, although they have been becoming less frequent and less severe recently. However, when he goes through one, he normally stops communication, and I haven't heard from him for several weeks. You are the closest to him, I wanted to ask if you had?"

Kaldur shakes his head, "No. the last time I saw him was," he has to pause for a few seconds to think, "mid September." It's a few days before the New Year now, and Kaldur wonders how he could have let this slip by him. He knows that he's been busy – between leading the team, and training, and visiting Atlantis, he rarely has free time – but has he been busy enough to justify neglecting one of his oldest friends? He fears not.

Dinah nods, both unsurprised, and unhappy. "He won't take well to it if I show up – he'll view it as a threat to his independence," she may not be related to Roy by blood, but in Kaldur's eyes, Black Canary is every inch the mother unable to help her child right now, "I didn't want to ask this of you, and I want you to understand that this is completely optional, but . . . could you go after him? Just make sure he's safe?"

"Of course."

* * *

"Recognized. Aqualad. B02."

The half-second of tingling that he's come to associate with transporting, and he's in Star City. In a sewer under Main Street to be more precise. Kaldur pushes up the manhole cover half an inch, making sure that there's no one around to see him climb out.

He can be reasonably certain that Roy will be somewhere in Star City, but beyond that, he's has no clues as to where to start looking. He had checked the tracker, but it had only given him the address to Roy's apartment, and that wasn't particularly helpful beyond informing him that Red Arrow wasn't patrolling. With no other options, he decides to head to the apartment anyway. There's a chance that Roy will be there, and even if he isn't he'll have to return eventually.

The apartment is locked. He really should have expected this. Kaldur weighs the pros and cons of sitting outside Roy's door for however long it takes him to return, versus just breaking in. Breaking in wins by a landslide, and Kaldur pulls one of his water bearers out of the spacious pockets of his jacket, and places it against the keyhole. He's never done this before but it  _should_ work, and he urges the water to turn. There's a muffled click, and he's in.

He's been waiting for five hours and twenty-three minutes. He finished cleaning the apartment three hours and fourteen minutes ago. He got bored of reading Roy's college textbooks three hours and fifty-six minutes ago. In short, he's bored beyond words, and Roy  _still_ isn't back yet. Kaldur prides himself on his almost inexhaustible supplies of patience (enough to deal with Wally hopped up on sugar), but this is getting ridiculous.

He's been waiting for seven hours and forty-two minutes when there's the distinctive scrape of a key in the door, and a bang as it opens.

Roy looks . . . 'worse for wear' is the kindest phrase Kaldur can come up with. He has a black eye, a split lip, and a shallow cut on his arm. He's dressed in civies, so the injuries can't have come from the job, and their origin becomes clear as Kaldur walks closer, and the reek of alcohol asserts itself. The fact that Roy hasn't even noticed Kaldur's presence lets the Atlantean know just how drunk his friend is – a glass or two of wine doesn't override nearly a decade of training. Half a dozen shots do.

He knows that he should be moving forward, confronting his friend,  _something,_ but he's frozen to the spot by sheer horror. He thought that he had seen Roy at his worst, broken and bleeding, but somehow this was, far, far worse.

He's jolted into reality by a thud as Roy stumbles over a chair, knocking it to the ground.

"Roy. What happened?"

He knows it's bad when Roy isn't even startled by his presence, doesn't even ask him how he got in. He just glares, and Kaldur's afraid for a few moments that Roy is going to hit him. Instead, he completely falls apart. "There, there was this little girl – maybe seven or eight – and she was . . . I couldn' . . . I couldn't save her, and she died. There was a fire . . . she was screaming and I . . . I couldn't. It . . it was just like my dad . . . there was always a fire . . . an' . . ." Kaldur slowly wraps his arms around Roy, giving him plenty of warning, and when he doesn't back away or lash out, he tightens his grip, rubbing his friends back, hoping that he's doing  _something_ to help, because he feels absolutely useless. But he must be doing something right, because Roy's incoherent mumblings slowly fade into silent, wracking sobs, and eventually even those grow into stillness as Roy falls into Morpheus' open arms.

Carrying the archer is no small feat. Both him and Kaldur are about the same size, and Roy weighs a few pounds more, so Kaldur ends up half dragging him into his bedroom, and wrestling him onto the bed. Roy looks almost peaceful in his sleep, harsh lines softened, and angry frowns erased. Kaldur moves away from the bed, almost regretfully, intending to sleep on the couch and make sure that Roy is okay in the morning, but Roy has other ideas, and, still half asleep, he grabs Kaldur's wrist, in a silent but clear request for him to stay.

And who is Kaldur to say no?

* * *

Despite living on land for almost six years, Kaldur still isn't quite used to sleeping without the comforting weight of the see around him. Normally, it's not a really big deal, but he often has some trouble sleeping and rarely manages to sleep through the night without interruption, even after a long patrol or a hard training exercise. All this explains why he's shocked to wake up slowly as sunlight begins to seep through a crack in the blinds. He's even more surprised to find that he's not in his bed at Mount Justice and that there is another body in the bed, a body that currently seems to be doing its level best to intertwine itself with Kaldur. It has already managed to tangle their legs, and is lying half sprawled across his chest with one arm wrapped loosely around Kaldur's neck.

Opening his eyes, Kaldur is greeted by a shock of blazing red hair, and the knowledge of who this is and the events of last night (or, more pedantically, this morning) rush back to him. Kaldur's first instinct is to leave and blame any memories his friend has on the alcohol. But that would be cowardly. And, more practically, impossible. Roy has him well and truly trapped. His only option is to wait until Roy wakes up and hope that it isn't  _unbearably_ awkward. And, if he's being strictly honest with himself he rather likes this. It is . . . comfortable here. He is warm and safe, and he is . . . not averse to his current position.

Kaldur wakes up a second time (and he really isn't sure when he fell back asleep – he is  _sure_ that he intended to stay awake) to the harmony of a screeching alarm radio and Roy's agonized groans. Kaldur has never experienced a hangover (Atlanteans have a considerable degree of resistance to alcohol, and even if they didn't Kaldur is leery of any substance that would inhibit his self control) but he has heard of them, and imagines that Roy must be in considerable pain.

Roy rolled off him at some point, and, after detangling their remaining limbs, Kaldur heads to the bathroom. A quick rummage through the medicine cabinet reveals a box of aspirin, and Kaldur takes two of the pills and fills a glass of water. Roy accepts the offerings gratefully (Kaldur, for his part, is just thrilled that Roy hasn't vomited yet), swallowing the pills, and nearly inhaling the water.

An hour later, with Roy is at his first class of the day and Kaldur is making the trek to the Zeta-Beam, Kaldur muses over the events of the morning. They had talked about the girl, and the pressures of being a hero, and the depression, but both of them had deftly avoided speaking of how they had awoken, and Kaldur isn't sure whether he's relieved or disappointed by that.


	4. In Which College Eats Roy's Soul (But Kaldur Makes It Give It Back)

Roy's pretty sure that his teachers are fucking  _trying_ to kill him. Really, he's considered the possibility before, but it wasn't until now that he has a statistics test, a ten page paper, and an oral report all due tomorrow, that he's serious about it. He has the paper done, and a rough draft for the oral, but he has only the barest grasp on the subjects for the test (Red Arrow was called away during a key lecture, and between work and superheroing, Roy hasn't been able to go to any of the teacher's makeup sessions) and it's a few minutes after ten. His first class is at eight – it's the math class too, so he can't just show up, hand in his paper and sleep – and he's  _this close_ to saying screw it, winging the oral and failing the exam.

Drawing on some sort of hidden strength, he manages to keep going until eleven when there is a sharp knock on his door. He ignores it, assuming that there's someone out there who  _really_ thinks that he wants to get a timeshare in the Alps. But the knocking doesn't go away, and finally Roy gets up to answer it – he figures that at least if it's a salesman, he can have the satisfaction of yelling at someone. It isn't a salesperson – it's Kaldur.

Roy frowns. "Is it Friday already?  _Shit,_ I could have sworn it was Tuesday." They have a twice monthly standing 'bro night' (dubbed such by Wally) that, despite both of their schedules, they generally manage to go to. Roy doesn't relish the thought of being the first to have to cancel.

Kaldur shakes his head, "No, the Team was in the area, and I wanted to see how you were doing?" The last part is definitely a not-so-subtle inquiry about his health and Roy thinks ruefully that he must look like a wreck. Three hours of sleep in twenty-four will do that to you.

"I'm fine man; it's just that college is killing me right now. You're welcome to come in – stay the night if you want – but I have to study," Roy replies, trying for light and playful, but he's pretty sure that he just comes off as exhausted.

Kaldur nods, and his eyes sweep up and down Roy's frame, taking in the wrinkled t-shirt, torn sweatpants, and dark black bags, as he replies, "Actually, I have an errand to run – do you mind if I come back in half an hour?"

"Sure. Whatever. Knock when you get back. I should really just get you a key, shouldn't I?" And he really should – even though their 'scheduled' together time is only twice a month, Kaldur is in his apartment at least once a week for various reasons, sometimes even more often than that. He adds it to his mental 'to do' list, in the futile hope that he'll still remember it come morning.

* * *

Google has proven  _ridiculously_ unhelpful, as has Wolfram Alpha, his math textbook, the one kid in his class who seemed like she knew what she was doing (actually she gave a pretty deep and thoughtful answer – one that he thinks would probably have been useful if he hadn't had less than four hours of sleep in the last forty-eight) and every other resource he's tried. Only the fact that his partial scholarship rides on him getting a B+ or better in every class has him still trying.

A rap on his door interrupts him, and this time he remembers about Kaldur. He gets up to let his friend in, and finds the Atlantean carefully holding two flimsy paper cups that have the most delectable scent coming out of them. "Oh, God, is that coffee?" Roy knows that he sounds kind of insane but his coffee maker has been broken for almost a month, but buying a new one is too expensive, and he  _definitely_  can't afford to buy Starbucks coffee.

In lieu of answering, Kaldur just presses one of the cups into his hand, and a deep gulp reveals that it is, in fact, the glorious substance known as coffee. "It's still hot!" The nearest coffee place is a ten minute walk away, and it's Febuary – on the few occasions that he has yielded to his caffeine deprivation, he has learned firsthand the futility of trying to keep the liquid hot in subzero temperatures.

Kaldur raises an eyebrow. "I would be a very poor water mage indeed if I couldn't keep coffee warm for a few minutes."

"You have a point," then, because he's that desperate, "You wouldn't happen to be any good at math, would you?"

"I am decent. Why?"

Roy tells him about the math test, and the oral, and the paper with a speed and level of incoherency that Wally would be jealous of. Somehow, (Roy suspects it's due to long-term exposure to the speedster) Aqualad manages to makes sense of the mess, and asks to see his textbook. Roy relinquishes is happily, and after a few moments of reading, Kaldur begins to explain.

When Roy goes to sleep, he has no illusions about acing the test or the oral, but he's confident that he has a good chance of passing them, and right now, that's all he can hope for.


	5. In Which There Is (Despite the Incredulity of Uncle Kaldur) A Small Female Child In Roy's Apartment

_Under the sea,_

 _Under the sea,_

 _Darling it's better_

 _Down where it's wet-_

The dulcet tones of Sebastian the crab are cut off unceremoniously as Kaldur manages to locate his cell phone. A muttered curse, directed at Wally, a mental note to  _never_ let the speedster near his phone ever again, and Kaldur picks up, "Hello?"

"It's Roy. I, uh, I have a little problem. Do you think you could come?" Roy sounds uncertain, and his voice has an odd, muffled quality to it like he's trying to keep quiet.

Kaldur, having been awoken from a deep sleep, is still not quit awake, and replies, slightly groggily, "Of course. Where are you?"

"Thanks. I'm at the apartment."

"I will be there by," Kaldur glances at the clock and does a quick mental calculation for the time difference, "oh-four-hundred. Do you require anything else?"

"Yeah. Do you think you could pick of some juice and mac and cheese? Oh, and a sippy cup. And a toothbrush. And a - shit, she just woke up, I need to go," with that farewell, Roy hangs up, leaving a confused Kaldur listening to silence.

Pulling on civilian clothes as he Googles for grocery stores near Roy's apartment, Kaldur tries to figure out what is going on with Roy. The only hypothesis that covers all the clues is the presence of a young female child in Roy's apartment, but that just seems too inconceivable to have any merit. But, then, nothing else makes much sense either, so Kaldur, armed with directions and a shopping list, heads toward the Zeta-Beam, hoping that his curiosity will be sated on the other end.

* * *

The 24 hour grocery store is, to be completely honest, mildly terrifying. There are so many  _choices._ Does he want Kraft or Annie's? Tropicana or Nestle? What  _size_ Sippy Cup does he want? What color? Roy didn't specify. Kaldur finally determines that none of the choices seem to have any more merit than any of the others (there nutritional labels are nearly identical, and their prices have little variation. What else  _is_ there to judge by? The pictures?) and picks at random, paying for his purchases and fleeing the store with as much dignity as he can summon.

The first thing that he notices upon his arrival at Roy's apartment (Roy had showed up at Mt. Justice one day and thrown a key at his head, saying that he spent enough time there to need it) is that it is unusually clean. Kaldur normally takes it upon himself to clean Roy's apartment every few months, if only for fear of avalanches, but this was certainly not his doing. The place practically sparkles.

The second thing he notices is the singing. He doesn't recognize the song – even after nearly a decade on the surface, some parts of Human culture are still completely foreign – but he thinks he likes the lyrics, and stays where he is for a few moments, just listening. The end of the song (though not the singing – the voice continues onto another tune) startles him back into reality, and along with it comes the realization that it was  _Roy_ singing. The phrase seems inherently contradictory. Roy  _singing._ This is just getting stranger and stranger, but after dropping the grocery bag in the kitchen, Kaldur ventures forth towards the source of the sound. Roy's bedroom.

The door is open a few inches, and Kaldur can see Roy sitting on the edge of his bed, and a small girl, curled up in light blue pajamas, hanging on to every word.

Suddenly everything slots into place. This must be Lian. Roy had come to him one day, pale with red rimmed eyes, and started babbling. It had taken several cups of hot chocolate, a hug that lasted nearly ten minutes, and the better part of a day to get the story straight, but he had finally managed to understand. Roy had had a short lived relationship with Cheshire – when he confessed this, he looked terrified, like he thought that Kaldur would hate him for the indiscretion, instead Roy found himself on the receiving end of a tight hug. It had fallen apart within weeks of its beginning, but it wasn't before Cheshire – Jade – had gotten pregnant. She had chosen to keep the baby, but severely limited Roy's interactions with the child. Beyond a note a few days after the baby's birth informing the father that the child was female and named Lian, and a few pictures since then, Kaldur didn't think Roy knew  _anything_ about his progeny. Roy had said that it was probably for the better, making a feeble joke about how bad a dad he would have made, but there was a hollow, fragile look in his eyes that revealed to Kaldur how much Roy  _wanted_ to be a good dad.

What Lian is doing  _here_ was another question, but Kaldur hopes that it is a long term arrangement, if only for Roy's sake.

As he watches, Lian drifts off to sleep and Roy stands up and turns towards the door, gesturing for Kaldur to move out into the living room.

"How long have you been here?"

Kaldur ignores the question, suspecting – rightly – that Roy had known the very moment that he had walked through the door and instead replies, "You have a very beautiful voice. Was that Lian?"

Roy has often cursed his pale complexion, and, as a blush crept from his cheeks traversing his face to climb across his ears and down his neck, he does so again. Stamping down the urge to fidget, he responds, "Yeah – Ollie made me learn when I was a kid. Lian is staying with me. Cheshire got caught – she's in jail for the next decade at least, probably more. She's taking it pretty well considering, but she was having trouble sleeping so . . . " Here he trails off, and glances down at his hands, then back at Kaldur as if waiting for some judgment.

"You will be a good father, Roy," pronounces Kaldur, as if there is no doubt about the matter. And there is none, at least in his mind. Roy – although he will vehemently deny it – is actually good with kids, and it's obvious, even from the limited interaction he has seen, that Roy cares deeply for Lian. "Will you tell the others?"

"I – I guess I have to," Roy says uncertainly, and then he snorts, "I'm sure they'll be thrilled to learn that they were right – I was a stupid kid who couldn't take care of himself."

"Give them more credit. The members of Young Justice at least, will be thrilled to become Aunts and Uncles," Kaldur replies, the slightest reproof in his tone.

This startles a crooked grin out of Roy. "Does that make you Uncle Kaldur?"

Kaldur glares at Roy, but both of them know that he's more amused than angry. "I suppose so." Then he remembers, "The items you requested are in the kitchen. Do you require anything else?"

"Well. A bigger apartment for one, but I don't suppose you have one of those in your pockets. Sorry I woke you up – I needed . . ."

Kaldur seems to understand and, grasping Roy's shoulder says, "If you need anything, ask me. I am perfectly willing to sacrifice a few hours of sleep one of my oldest friends."

"I. Thanks. Do you want to stay here? Get a few more hours of sleep? Lian's in the bedroom, but if you want the couch, I'll take the floor."

"You will require help buying the necessities for Lian. I have some degree of experience in that field. If you plan to go shopping in the morning, I will stay and accompany you, but I will take the floor, I think," responds Kaldur after a few moments' thought.

"Wait. How do you have 'some degree of experience' with kids?" asks Roy as he rummages through the closet for blankets.

"My King has allowed me the honor of taking care of the Heir on several occasions. I also have two younger sisters. I assure you, my experience with children is sufficient. I assume from your lack of objection that you will sleep on the couch?"

"You be  _hilarious_ as a babysitter. Also? Not a  _chance_ you're sleeping on the floor _._ "

Kaldur sighs, and Roy, taking that as compliance, goes back to hunting down pillows and blankets. He absently notes the sound of running water, but it doesn't register on a conscious level until he looks up and sees a block of water on his floor. "Uh, Kal? What the  _hell_ are you doing to my apartment?"

Shutting off the water, Kaldur moves back into the living room. "I'm making a bed. If you  _insist_ that I not sleep on the floor, I won't. Please pass me a sheet."

Roy sighs, deciding that he's been up for  _far_ too long to keep arguing about this (especially considering that Kaldur's water-bed-thing is probably more comfortable than his lumpy couch anyway) and gives in, throwing a sheet and pillow at Kaldur, who, much to his disgruntlement, catches them both with ease.

Just as he's about to drift off to sleep, Kaldur is struck by a feeling of  _rightness,_ but he loses conciousness before he can examine the thought any further.


	6. In Which Uncle Kal is Schrodinger's Fish

"Is Uncle Kal dying?" asks Lian, as she peers inquisitively over the edge of the bed where the Atlantean in question sleeps, unaware of the attention.

Roy's lips twitch in amusement, and he says, "I don't think so. How about you go make him a 'Get Better Soon' card? I bet he'd like that."

After setting Lian up in the kitchen with construction paper, paint, copious amounts of furniture-protecting newspaper, and more glitter than he knew he owned, Roy returns to the guest bedroom where Kaldur is currently residing. As Roy had learned over the past few days, while Aqualad is a wonderful nurse (something that Red Arrow has had opportunity to discover on multiple occasions) he makes a  _horrible_  patient, and Roy half expects to see him trying to get out of bed. Instead, Kaldur seems to have resigned himself to his fate, and is curled up in a nest of pillows and blankets, sniffling. He looks . . . surprisingly pathetic, actually, and Roy is gripped by the urge to make him  _stop_ looking pathetic. Kaldur isn't supposed to look so  _helpless._

Roy shakes his head to rid himself of this sudden attack of sappiness, and grabs Kaldur's arm, gently shaking it. "Hey. Hey, get up. The doctor said to make sure you take your medicine. How are you feeling?"

A muffled groan, and an attempt to (somehow) bury himself further into the bed is Kaldur's only answer.

"Aqualad. Wake up.  _Now._ "

Roy turns around at the familiar voice and is unamused, if unsurprised to see Dinah standing in the doorway, arms crossed. However, before he can confront her, Kaldur wakes up, and Roy is distracted with measuring out the sickly sweet smelling medicine and feeding it to Kaldur. Once he is done with that, he – somewhat forcefully – pulls Dinah out of the room, into the kitchen.

"Grandma Dinah!" Black Canary deals with the full force of an excited eight year old with as much grace as is humanly possible, and after several reassurances that, yes, Uncle Kal will love her card, and no, he really isn't dying, they retreat into the living room.

"What are you doing here?" Subtlety has never been one of Roy's strong suits.

"I thought you might need some help," replies Dinah, her posture open and voice calm.

"Meaning that you don't trust me to take care of Kaldur," there's a slightly bitter twist to Roy's tone, as if even  _he_ doubts his capability.

"No. If I thought that, I would have come here three days ago, when he got sick. I'm sure you could manage, but I thought maybe I could take Lian off your hands? It can't be easy to take care of them both, and I bet she's getting a bored being cooped up in here."

She's right – the last time Lian got out of the apartment was nearly half a week ago (he's pretty sure that this isn't how she imagined spending her spring break), and that's pretty hard on a hyperactive eight year old. But, "I promised Lian that I would take her out for ice cream today for getting a perfect score on her spelling test. I was going to have to put her off, but if you can look after Kaldur for a few hours. . .?"

"Of course. What do I need to do?"

"He needs one tablespoon of the medicine every two hours. His fever should break soon, and the doc said that he should be back on his feet later today. Make sure he eats some soup or something and drinks a lot of water. Call me if he gets any worse," Roy reels off, not noticing Dinah's fond half smile as he does so.

"I think I can probably manage that. Have fun."


	7. Epilogue

Dinah is just finishing a report for Batman about the progress of the newest members of the Justice League (and when did Young Justice get that old?) when a rather bedraggled looking Kaldur walks into the room.

"How are you?" she asks, putting the computer down.

"I am," a brief pause as he evaluates his physical state, "better than I was, if still suboptimal."

"Good. I'm under standing orders to feed you, so what do you want to eat? Soup? Crackers? Toast?"

"Soup would be manageable."

So Black Canary heats up a can of soup while gently questioning Kaldur about his condition. They've moved onto discussing League business when Kaldur suddenly goes still and quiet. "Are you okay?" Dinah's halfway out of her chair when Kaldur shakes his head and waves her back into a seated position.

"I have a . . . query."

Dinah raised an eyebrow and gestures for him to continue. "Yeah?"

"I . . . would like to court Roy. Normally I would ask permission from his father before doing so, but his father is deceased, and his relationship with Green Arrow is still . . . not what it used to be. You are the closest he has to a parental figure, so . . ."

Dinah has to suppress a grin, because Kaldur is so  _formal_  and  _polite_  about it, and so fundamentally  _different_ from Roy, and yet she can't imagine the kid any other way any more than she can imagine one of them without the other. "I can't think of anyone I'd prefer to have . . . courting . . . Roy."

About fifteen minutes later, there's the scraping of a key at the door, and Lian's excited burbling reaches the pair. After prying the girl from an already exhausted Kaldur, and tucking her in for nap time, Dinah says her goodbyes, citing monitor duty at the Watchtower.

And, because Roy's ego needs to be taken down a few notches every now and then, just as she's about to open the door to leave, Dinah calls, "Don't forget to use protection, boys!" and is gone before her words can register.


End file.
